It turns out the Winnipeg Jets had good reason to believe if they put forth a similar effort to the one the night before they would come away with a different result.

Whatever natural frustration the Jets were feeling after outshooting, outplaying but not outscoring the St. Louis Blues in Saturday’s 2-0 loss was quickly erased by a 4-0 triumph on Sunday in the return match between Central Division rivals.

After peppering Carter Hutton with 48 shots on goal in St. Louis, the Jets fired another 46 at Blues goalie Jake Allen on Sunday at Bell MTS Place, only this time they were not blanked by a hot goalie.

For a Jets team that had earned only one victory (1-4-1) during the past six games, some folks were wondering if they might be on the verge of a downward spiral.

But after playing what was arguably their best road game of the entire season, the Jets duplicated the effort but were simply sharper around the net.

“We liked the way we played (Saturday) night, but at the same time, you’ve got to get results in this league,” said Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey, who had a goal and an assist. “We wanted to come out and do a lot of those same things, bear down a little more on some of the chances we got, but keep staying within our system and our structure that made us successful the night before. Our compete level was right throughout the game and that was a big bounce-back win for us.”

It was also an example of the Jets believing that when they play to their identity, they can have faith the results will take care of themselves.

“Well, it’s hard to do, especially when we just haven’t had success doing it like that. We haven’t had many playoff seasons, haven’t had much success in the playoffs,” said Jets captain Blake Wheeler. “But the teams that make the playoffs every year and the teams that have success when they’re in the playoffs are teams that do that over and over again, even when it’s hard or you may not feel well or you’re not scoring goals, you just stick with it. So, credit goes to every guy for just staying in the fight and saying the right things and staying engaged, and we finally broke through there and were able to take control of the game in the second period.”

During that second period, it was a hard-working shift from the checking line that broke a scoreless drought that reached 63 shots before the Jets found the back of the net.

Brandon Tanev drew a pair of Blues defencemen (Colton Parayko and Joel Edmundson) to him behind the net, took a hard hit to make a play and Andrew Copp found Adam Lowry for a tap-in at 4:32 of the second period.

Just like that, the Jets were able to take a deep breath and stop pressing for a goal that was probably beginning to feel like it might never come again.

“We’ve been really good with the lead, too, so I think getting the lead was important because it seems like other teams try to open the game against us,” said Copp. “So if we’re doing all the right things and coming back, then we get turnovers and that’s when we get more rushes and get that snowball effect.”

Patrik Laine whistled home his league-leading 10th power-play goal and team-leading 16th tally of the season before the period was over and the Jets got goals from Mark Scheifele and Morrissey to round out the scoring as they improved to 19-10-5 and pulled within three points of the Blues and Nashville Predators in the chase for top spot in the Central.

“It’s a good division. I like our team just as much as when we were winning nine of 10,” said Wheeler. “I think that throughout the course of the season you’re going to hit bumps in the road and it’s the teams that stay in the fight, stay with it consistently all year long. There are no off nights in our division and I think that’s the way you want it, though, because when push coms to shove and you’re in games that really mean something, then you’re groomed for it, you’re used to it.”

Between the pipes, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck did his part, making 24 saves to record his second shutout of the season.

“We kind of deserved this one,” said Hellebuyck, who improved to 17-4-4. “I thought we were the better team.”

The Jets close out the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule with a three-game road trip that begins Tuesday against the Predators and continues with games against the Boston Bruins and New York Islanders, all teams that currently occupy a playoff spot.

It will still be another week or so before we can accurately determine whether or not the Jets have fully turned the corner.

For the time being, the Jets earned the right to relish the fact they passed another test during a season that figures to be full of them.

“We have a good understanding — maybe better than people around us — that this is going to be real tight and right to the wire,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. “This division is just too good. The next five spots in the playoffs are going to be Central Division teams. It’s going to be a real fight for (those) spots and it’s not going away.

“This is going to take right until April.”

By playing more games like the ones they played this weekend, the Jets don’t figure to be going away anytime soon.

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